Midnight looked up at the vent, expecting me to follow him down into the room. My principal extended his arms as I slowly slid across the dusty surface until I was about to fall. "Will you be able to catch me from here?" I asked, a bit nervous about suddenly jumping down. I knew that this kind of attitude would only cause problems for me later on, but I didn't want to wake up the next morning not being able to move my legs.
Midnight nodded. "Yes, of course." With this, I suddenly decided to close my eyes and fall, putting my trust into Midnight. Fortunately, he stopped my swift descent until I was being held in my principal's arms. Thanking him after letting me down, I began to survey the room, noting its blandness. I also noticed a door that was next to us, which Midnight had begun to move towards. Luckily, it opened and we were faced with yet another hallway, this one decorated with half-dead, dimming lamps. I quickly entered the room we had exited and noticed that there was another light which was just as old as the others.
"Let's go," Midnight directed me. Within a few seconds, we were both running once more. I wasn't expecting to run into anything useful for the time being, but there were several doors on either side of the hallway that was all identical to one another. I assumed that they led to rooms akin to the one we accessed through the vent. Other than this small detail, there was nothing visually stimulating. I groaned softly and continued to run.
Before long, something did happen; the two of us froze as footsteps began to make themselves audible. We also noticed that they were both quickly approaching and light, indicating that whoever the footsteps belonged to, they were small or slim. This was proven as a meek-looking female strode into view, clad in a worn suit of armour. I immediately recognized it as one of my species, although I couldn't form any links to people that I knew before transferring to the school.
The woman quickly approached Midnight and I. "Halt!" Her voice was shaky. "Don't move or I will send in backup!"
While the female waved a small blade at the two of us, I attempted to negotiate. "But I... Er... We...!" My heart rate picked up as my argument crumbled.
Thankfully, Midnight seized the opportunity to speak. "This man here is merely an escort. I am being directed to prison at the moment." My principal said this with a sombre, defeated tone. It was flawed, however, and the female recognizes this by snarling and baring her teeth.
"A lie," she spat. "Unless he tore off your armour, replaced it with that ridiculous outfit and left every single other part of you unscathed, I doubt that you've ever done that." I backed up until I collided with Midnight, forcing me to face the woman. With a spike in confidence and anger, she took a few steps toward me as my fear spiked. Suddenly, she opened her mouth wide and turned to the opposite end of the hallway, intent on alerting anyone that may be within earshot. Before she could do so, however, she collapsed onto the ground mere heads away from my feet.
Without hesitation, Midnight yanked my forearm and began sprinting the other way. "Run, Feste!" His voice was forcefully restrained, not wanting to attract any attention. "She will only be unconscious for a few seconds. We need to find a place to hide in the meantime."
The two of us hurriedly bolted through the hallways that followed, eventually coming upon one distinct door that had a slight maroon tint. Midnight approached and opening it, doing so by breaking the locking mechanism with what little telekinetic power he had. He then pulled me into a janitor's closet, my principal pressing against a wall and shifting far away from the door that seeped light from its underside. I mirrored his movements and we were once again facing one another. It was then that Midnight began to talk once again, taking caution to limit his volume. "That girl... did you recognize her? She looked like one of your kind."
I shook my head. "No. She almost does, though."
"With whom does she have a resemblance to?" Midnight leaned forward.
"...Everyone. She looks like a perfectly average person, with no distinct features at all," I spoke.
"Oh." Midnight thoughtfully stroked his chin. "So your brain, if it even is behind this palace, isn't bothering to create unique people."
"That sounds about right," I nodded.
We were both plunged into a brief period of silence as we evaluated the situation outside the small dark closet we were uncomfortably forced inside. After confirming that everything was fine for the time being, Midnight continued. "Are you alright? Did that girl give you any cuts or scrapes? She did seem to be close for a second." He began to look me over, his eyes carefully looking for signs of injuries. "Did anything happen to your legs while we were running?"
"No, nothing." I ran an introspective check, looking for any sources of pain, but nothing came of it.